May 1, 2013

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From reader Alison Bishop-Morrell via Facebook on this photo taken at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway: 'One year old daughter Emma is SUPER excited for the Indianapolis 500!' Are you getting psyched up for the month of May? Share your photos with us!

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Good morning! It’s Wednesday, May 1, 2013. Wish the news was better for students, however ...

Third time the charm? Embattled vendor CTB/McGraw-Hill predicted a better day today for the computer-based ISTEP test. Teachers are now being asked to give the test to 50 percent of the students originally scheduled to take it each day. That could mean whole grade levels would wait, or schools could restrict access to testing machines, said The Star’s Eric Weddle. Across the board, everyone involved was frustrated and angry. Said Scott Williams, principal of Washington Woods Elementary School in Westfield: “They certainly would come after teachers if they were the reasons for these problems.”

Curt Cavin rounds up five things you need to know this May in the Indy Car world. Among them: two drivers are aiming for their fourth wins this year: Helio Castroneves, who last won the 500-Mile Race in 2009; and Dario Franchitti, who won last year’s race and has won three of the past six. Castroneves and Franchitti drive for two of the best teams — Team Penske and Ganassi Racing, respectively — so their chance to win again is good, Cavin said.

The Indiana Pacers can blame themselves for their series against the Atlanta Hawks being tied at 2-2, says The Star’s Mike Wells, who rounds up five adjustments the Pacers need to consider to pull out the series. Come to www.indystar.com/sports at 10:30 a.m. today to hear Wells and columnist Bob Kravitz discuss the pivotal matchup with Atlanta Journal-Constitution writer Chris Viviamore -- live from Bankers Life Fieldhouse, where the game tips off tonight at 8 p.m. Watch on Fox Sports Indiana or listen on 107.5-FM, 1070-AM.

The back end of a car fell into the earth Tuesday evening after a large sinkhole formed after 5 p.m. in the 9000 block of River Road near East 96th Street and North Keystone Avenue, Indianapolis police said. It’s unclear what caused the sinkhole, but it occurred next to a small creek. River Road will remain shut “until further notice,” the Department of Public Works said.

David Bisard, Michael Phillips, Evan Lurie and Curtis Coonrod are examples that “men, as a species and no matter the circumstances of our lives, are never far from screwing things up,” writes Tully. In Coonrod’s case, on the night that a woman and her boyfriend duct-taped and stuffed him in a storage closet at the apartment he was financing, Tully writes: “I have to assume that at moments like this a man begins to question some of the decisions he has made in his life.”

Among the findings from the Kaiser Family Foundation poll: Four in ten Americans (42%) are unaware that the Affordable Care Act is law, including 12 percent who believe the law has been repealed by Congress, 7 percent who believe it has been overturned by the Supreme Court and 23 percent who say they don’t know enough to say what the status of the law is. Yikes. The data comes as the Obama administration unveiled simplified application forms for health insurance benefits. The biggest change: a five-page short form that single people can fill out.

The U.S. government is making the morning-after pill more easily available in pharmacies but only those 15 and older can buy it — an attempt to find middle ground just days before a court-imposed deadline to lift all age restrictions on the emergency contraceptive, Plan B One-Step.

The trial of Dr. Kermit Gosnell closed with emotional appeals from both sides, with the prosecutor and defense attorney each calling on jurors to show courage in their verdict. The Philadelphia abortion doctor is accused of capital murder in the deaths of four children delivered alive at his clinic, as well as an abortion patient who died after she was given a fatal overdose of medication at the clinic in 2009.

The Seattle native told ABC News' Diane Sawyer in an interview airing Tuesday night that "I want the truth to come out. I'd like to be reconsidered as a person." In March, Italy's highest criminal court overturned Knox's acquittal in the 2007 murder of British student Meredith Kercher and ordered a new trial for Knox, 25. Knox told Sawyer the high court's decision was "incredibly painful.” Knox went on to say: “For all intents and purposes I was a murderer, whether I was or not. I had to live with the idea that that would be my life.”

"It was all your fault," Dick told Carrie Ann Inaba (who gave the dancer a 5 for his rumba on the Latin Week show), but it was definitely a reasonable time for the comedian to head home, writes Zap2It. Darn it, I thought he was one of the most fun contestants in a long time.